In the Footage—
Bulbasaur and Meganium were in the heat of battle. Though the opponent was strong, Bulbasaur used a variety of clever combos to completely outmaneuver the larger Pokémon.
In terms of agility, Meganium was no match for the seed Pokémon! With a final Sludge Bomb, Bulbasaur took Meganium down. With this victory, Ash's rank climbed to the 1,500s!
Meanwhile, at the Vermilion City Pokémon Center, a blue-and-white patterned Pokémon Egg began to emit a faint glow. Hearing a stir, Nurse Joy rushed in, only to find the egg looking exactly as it always had.
"This little one... what's going on? Why won't it come out of the egg?" Nurse Joy asked worriedly. This egg had been around for a long time, but no matter what they tried, it refused to hatch. Was the Pokémon inside afraid of the world?
[Lance: That pattern... could it be a Riolu?]
[Leon: Or perhaps a Sobble, though both are extremely rare in Kanto.]
[Bea: Could it be... the reincarnation of that Lucario?]
[Diantha: Really? How many years has it been? It couldn't possibly have stayed in an egg all this time, could it?]
[Sabrina: Perhaps the little one is waiting for its fated person.][Catlin: You mean Ash? But... isn't that a bit too long a wait?]
[Sabrina: Whether it is or not, we'll know if we keep watching.]
Sabrina didn't argue. Her intuition—and the fact that the Ranking showed this egg for a reason—told her this was likely Riolu's egg. "A bond spanning a thousand years... does it really exist?" she murmured.
In the Footage—
Ash continued his search for his next opponent. Soon, the tracker linked to his Rotom Phone chirped—a nearby player with a similar rank! Ash found his target: Hashiba from Fuchsia City.
A Rotom Drone flew in to referee the 1v1 match. Hashiba sent out a Tauros, while Ash sent out his ace, Pikachu. Pikachu used his incredible speed to run circles around the bull.
Before Hashiba could react, Pikachu unleashed a devastating Thunder, followed by a silver flash of Iron Tail, ending the fight instantly.
Ash secured another win, leaving Hashiba speechless. He thought he could farm some points off a kid with a Pikachu, but this Pikachu was a total rule-breaker! After a friendly handshake, Ash picked up Pikachu and noticed a minor scrape on his tail from the force of the Iron Tail. He headed to the Pokémon Center.
Suddenly, a ripple passed through Ash's mind. Is this... Aura?
"What's wrong, Ash?" Chloe asked. "Just now... I felt like something was calling me." "Huh? There's no one else here. Don't scare me!" Chloe, who was terrified of ghosts, shivered despite the daylight.
"Maybe I just imagined it," Ash muttered. The ripple had vanished, but his Aura had definitely resonated with something.
[Lance: That ripple... there's no doubt about it now.]
[Catlin: It really is Riolu? It's been waiting for years?!]
[Riley: I have a theory. Perhaps Ash's ancestor hadn't mastered the use of Aura yet, so he couldn't sense Riolu's call. Now that Ash has tapped into it, he can finally hear it!]
[Cynthia: A reunion between an Aura Guardian and his partner after a millennium... imagine the power they'll wield.][Leon: Heh, I'm getting more and more excited for the Master Eight!]
In the Footage—
At the Pokémon Center, Ash and Chloe laughed at Pikachu's exaggerated facial expressions as his tail was being treated. Then, VMM— another subtle pulse hit Ash.
This time, he didn't doubt it. The voice was right here. Ash walked toward the back of the center as if in a trance, ignoring Nurse Joy and Chloe. He reached a room where the doors slid open to reveal a nursery filled with eggs.
One egg stood out. It was held in a specialized cradle with sensors attached by wires. Ash walked up to the blue-and-white egg. The calling stopped. It was here.
"Ash! You can't just wander into the nursery! Oh, look at this egg..." Chloe caught up, noticing the strange setup. Unlike the other eggs in incubators, this one was in a heavy crate with metal rings and monitoring lines.
"Nurse Joy, why is this egg like this?" Ash asked. "Well, this child is special. It..."
Before she could finish, the egg wobbled violently! It shook off the metal sensors and rolled across the cradle toward Ash, stopping only because of the barrier. Nurse Joy gasped, her hand over her mouth.
"This egg has traveled through Sinnoh, Hoenn, and Unova before being sent here. It's been months since we found it, but it refused to hatch. Its life signs are stable, but it wouldn't move. And yet, just now..."
The egg had never reacted like this before. Was it because of this boy?
[Nurse Joy (Vermilion): Most eggs hatch within a week or two. Pseudo-legendaries might take a month. For an egg to last months without hatching or dying is a miracle.]
[Catlin: It's the power of their bond. It was stubbornly waiting for Ash!]
In the Footage—
"Is it really that amazing?" Ash asked, reaching in to touch the egg. "It's so warm! Pikachu, Chloe, feel it!" "Pika!" "It's true! A warm feeling rises from my heart just touching it," Chloe marveled.
Nurse Joy watched Ash for a moment, her gaze turning resolute. "Ash, I want you to have this egg." "Wait, really?!" "Yes. It clearly reacted to you. If anyone can hatch it, it's you."
Ash took the egg back to the Cerise Lab. Since the egg was now showing strong vitality, it no longer needed the heavy sensors. Ash was no stranger to raising eggs; he had hatched Phanpy and Larvitar in the past.
Over the next few days, Ash took the egg everywhere. He talked to it, describing the world. Chloe's teachers didn't even mind her missing school to travel with a "Champion"—after all, traveling with Ash provided more education in a year than a lifetime in a classroom.
"Ash, can the egg really hear you?" Chloe asked. Ash grinned. "Definitely! Because the one inside is special. I know he'll be drawn out by how wonderful this world is!"
Back at the lab, Ash introduced the egg to his other Pokémon. Dragonite wanted to give it a hug, but Ash stopped her—her "hugs of death" might crack the shell.
Gengar just gave a ghostly cackle and went back to training; after tasting victory, Gengar was obsessed with getting stronger for the Master Class.
That night, as Ash and Pikachu slept, the egg on the table began to pulse with a faint blue light. The light grew until it filled the room. Cracks appeared. Pikachu woke up first and frantically nudged Ash.
"What is it, Pikachu... is it morning?" Ash sat up, rubbing his eyes. When he saw the glowing, cracking egg, he rolled out of bed instantly. "It's hatching!"
Under their wide-eyed gaze, the shell shattered. A burst of brilliant blue light faded to reveal a small, blue-and-black pup-like Pokémon.
It was the Emanation Pokémon—Riolu!
Ash and Pikachu were overjoyed. A rare Riolu! 'Ash, one day, you will find a Lucario of your own!' A dreamlike voice echoed in Ash's memory—a memory from years ago during his Battle Frontier challenge when he met a certain Lucario.
It seemed that prophecy had finally come true.
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